May starts and ends the same way

The Dodgers recovered some of their moxie in May with a boatload of surprise performances but in a month of bad news, they finished the month with even more.

On May 1st Clayton Kershaw pitched six innings and left the game with bicep tenderness and would miss the rest of the month until he made his next start on May 31st. Dodger fans waited all month for Clayton to make this start and Clayton lasted just five innings before leaving with “back tightness” and is now scheduled for an MRI. If Clayton hits the DL with his back issue it will be the third year in a row that Clayton has hit the DL with back issues. Will the Dodgers even see Clayton in the month of June?

But enough about Clayton, this is about the month of May which was a bit unusual even for Dodger standards.

The Dodgers ended April at 12 – 16 and eight full games back of the Diamondbacks.

The good news – they made up almost all the ground on the Diamondbacks and finished May just 2 1/ 2 games back of the Diamondbacks mostly thanks to the Diamondbacks going 8 – 19 for the month.

The bad news – the Rockies are now in 1st place and the Dodgers trail the Rockies by four games.

The Dodgers went 14 – 14 for the month of May but considering at one point in May they were only 4 – 10 in May and are on the verge of last place they had a remarkable comeback by winning nine of their next eleven games to surge into 3rd place.